killing butterflies for fun???

[Anne Kilmer]

Joseph Sugar wrote:

> Get a grip on reality????  I am trying to do the right thing here.  I am 
> trying to stop a very disturbing practice and you tell ME to get a grip 
> on reality?
> 
> Telling someone what to wear is different from telling someone not to 
> murder a living thing, dont'cha think????  We are not dealing with 
> opinion, but with right vs. wrong.  Generally, those who wish to 
> preserve life are right.  Those who take life are wrong.  I believe I 
> have the support of most Americans in this.
> 

Well, not the ones who spray pesticide in houses. Not the ones who use 
pesticides on crops. Did you know that many pesticides kill all bugs, 
the pretty ones and the ugly ones alike?

If you eat meat, wear leather shoes, drive a car, you are taking lives.
Big deal. We're all gonna die, Joe.
Yes, you implied (not inferred) in your first post that you think it's 
all right to kill ugly animals and pests, but it's wrong to kill 
beautiful things. Speaking as a homely woman, I find this thought 
unsettling.

Joseph, a lot worse things are happening in this world, and perhaps you 
should turn your anger towards people who kill other people, out of 
anger, for profit. Perhaps you should protest against the developers 
that destroy the habitat where the beautiful butterflies lived, so that 
they have noplace to lay the eggs and grow the caterpillars, their 
children. (Caterpillars are ugly, Joseph, and many are "pests"; they eat 
plants. Is it ok with you if we kill them?)
The butterflies that the collector showed you would be dead now, anyway; 
many of them live only a few days. Probably they had a chance to mate, 
have young, live complete lives, and now their bodies are being used to 
teach others about their beauty.
That is true of the moths, too, Joseph. Few of them are pests, and all 
are beautiful little creatures, just living their lives as God made 
them. Your eye, untrained, does not see their beauty, but that collector 
  gave you a chance to see them.
Americans are afraid of death, and bodies ... of animals, of people ... 
are whisked away before we have to learn, accept, understand it. But 
death will come to all of us, Joseph, and few of us will be beautiful or 
have a chance to teach others.
I have willed my body to science, when I die, giving scientists a chance 
to study what I was, and perhaps to help others like me.
In a way, then, I will be like those moths and butterflies, and I am 
proud of that.
I'm not in a hurry to die, nor were they, but it may be that my body 
will do more good than I ever did. That's true of those insects, too.
I'm sorry you were shocked, but really, collectors are not cruel, the 
bugs were dead before they were pinned, death by collector is no worse 
than being hit by a car, fried in a bug zapper, doused with Malathion, 
swatted with a rolled up newspaper. Or eaten by a bird, lizard or 
spider. Death comes to all of us, Joseph. It's ok.
Cheers
Anne Kilmer
Mayo, Ireland



> And you don't have to be an expert in butterflies to know that they 
> shouldn't be "hunted for sport".  As I infered in my first post, if 
> someone has the urge to kill something, then take it out on the bugs 
> that do damage, like the moths.  But leave the butterflies, who everyone 
> loves, ALONE!
> 
> And Barb, in the middle of typing this, I received your bigfoot 
> message.  I seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest when all I wanted to 
> do is get some information.  I am very uncomfortable giving other 
> people's names out on the web and I'm too busy to be playing the stupid 
> games you suggest.
> 
> Joseph
> 
> 
> 
>> From: Sean Patrick Mullen <spm23 at cornell.edu>
>> To: josephsugar736 at hotmail.com
>> CC: LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu
>> Subject: Re: killing butterflies for fun???
>> Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 10:58:06 -0400
>>
>> Dear Joseph,
>>
>> Please get a grip on reality.  How much do you know about the
>> professional or amateur study of Lepidoptera?  My guess is nothing.
>> If you have well-thought out valid objections to collecting, then I
>> tip my hat to you and applaud the fact that you're making a personal
>> decision not to collect.  If, however, you are, as I suspect, making
>> a fairly uninformed and reactionary decision to champion new
>> legislation against collecting, then think about this for a minute.
>>
>> Do I tell you what you can wear?  What you should eat, how you should
>> worship, who you can or can not associate with?  No.  Why, because
>> your constitutional rights protect you from my opinions.  Now, if you
>> can convince 51% of the voting public that your right, then you can
>> force you ideas down my throat.  Until then, stick to what you know.
>>
>> -Sean
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi butterfly lovers,
>>>
>>> I am new to this group and did a lot of searching to find you all.  I
>>> recently attended an audubon meeting in my county and the speaker
>>> did his talk on butterflies.  I went expecting to see pictures of
>>> live butterflies and to learn more about them.
>>>
>>> Instead, this guy (I won't mention his name - I don't want to get a
>>> lynch mob goin ;)), brought in his collection of butterflies that he
>>> killed and mounted FOR FUN!
>>>
>>> Since this is a butterfly group, I know you will be disturbed to
>>> hear this, but I was wondering if there are any laws to protect
>>> them?  Can just anyone go out an kill butterflies just for the fun
>>> of it?  He also had a collection of moths that had pins through
>>> them.  This didn't really bother me as much since most of them are
>>> pests, but it would seem to me that we would have laws to protect
>>> some of our most beautiful creatures.  What this guy does, and
>>> others like him, is morally wrong and I intend to turn around this
>>> disturbing trend that murder is okay as long as the perpetrator is 
>>> having fun.
>>>
>>> Just looking for direction on where to go, and sorry if the
>>> discussion of dead butterflies has ruined your breakfast.
>>>
>>> Joseph
>>
>>
>> -- 
> 
> 
> 




 
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